


Just an Old Man Who Cares Deeply About You

by Fangirlingmanaged



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Background Relationships, Hopeful Ending, I don’t even know, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Feels, because I love the concept of Uncle Fury, don’t @ me, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 08:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15360468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlingmanaged/pseuds/Fangirlingmanaged
Summary: Before Fury fell victim to the Snap he had time to do one last thing.For the world. For the Avengers. For a little boy who’d had to grow up too fast, had had to carry a burden for too long. For a man for whom he cared very deeply even if neither of them had ever been able to say just how much.





	Just an Old Man Who Cares Deeply About You

**Author's Note:**

> First fic in a long while. Sorry for any mistakes.

It’s something about six months after the snap that Captain Marvel shows up on earth. A communicator in hand and looking rough around the edges. Tony barely connects the color of her uniform with the files he’d seen in the SHIELD servers way back when he thought his biggest problem was Fury and his less than stellar record at being truthful. They’d been holed up in Wakanda since Thanos had left Earth, most them unable and some unwilling to return to the states where Ross (and  _ jesus  _ the man was like a damn cockroach) had continued his anti-hero spiel. Despite the fact that he was losing ground, quickly, some in the old guard proved to be more vicious than the former Avengers thought. 

On the first couple of months, the press and the US government had been calling for Rhodes’s and later, when he got tired of the overt racism and unfairness of it all and Rhodey hadn’t been able to stop him, Tony’s. Shuri, fresh on her own grief and actively trying to keep her Mother cheerful, had tased him with one of her new-fangled inventions till Tasha and Rhodes had talked him out of his anger. Well, Rhodes more than Natasha. These days, despite the fact that they were more or less acting cohesively to bring the others back, Tony had retreated into the safety of Shuri’s workshop. 

The princess had been gracious enough to allow him limited access to it. Despite the big gaping hole in his chest, bleeding every single day with the thought of Happy and Pepper and  _ God _ Peter and Butterfingers because  _ of fucking course _ Thanos would take that away from him as well, Tony was learning from Shuri and the Wakandan techs every single day. The armor already had new specs, eliciting a laugh from the princess and a reluctant compliment which then was taken back with a roast he was still nursing, and the Hulkbuster had been repaired. Bruce had looked at him with a small smile, a little bit of shame in his eyes, but Tony had just said “in case” because despite what they had been through, or because of what they’d been through, Tony understood why the Hulk hadn’t made an appearance. Bruce had done admirable well, under the circumstances, and he was still around for which they were all incredibly grateful. 

The others… well, Tony wouldn’t be able to say much about them. They were gracious enough, he supposed, under the circumstances. They saw each other during debriefings and meals, sometimes, after Rhodey coaxed the scientists out of their cave. Tasha had tried, in her own way, to mend fences between them. Tony, fresh off his own grief at losing not only his closest friends but also his kids, had merely looked at her before walking away. She didnt follow and he didn’t try again. She couldn’t understand, the stabbing pain in his chest every single day, at the thought that it was on him that Peter never returned to his aunt, that Pepper and Happy had just vanished and now part of their families were calling for Tony’s head, that Vision and Butterfingers… it was… it was like losing his two youngest, all at once. 

The next to try, because of course he was, was the captain. Sporting his unkept beard and the longer hair. His eyes were dark with his own kind of pain, and while Tony empathize, all he could do was shake his head and hug his mug of coffee tighter to his chest. To him, there was nothing left to say between them. Wasting time on meaningless apologies, on platitudes of “I see it now, Tony,” said in that desperately earnest tone… well, he was too tired for that whole song and dance. It sucked, yeah, it was unfair, of course it was, but there was nothing they could do now but keep moving and try to somehow reverse what the purple asshole had done.

“Who’d you lose?” Steve had asked, when Tony had tried to walk away. It was part desperation, Tony could hear it in his tone, and part challenge. Because of course he did not know, of course he’d think tony too selfish and too isolated to understand. 

“with the exception of Rhodey and two of my bots?” Tony said, still holding his mug and looking out the palace windows to the war burned fields of Wakanda. He half turned, his mouth half ticked up on a sardonic smile, “Everyone I loved.” Steve’s entire demeanor changed, his posture slumping, as the weight of those words seemed to hit him.  _ And you still can’t know the entire truth,  _ Tony thought,  _ you still don’t know the pain of losing the beings you thought of as your children. You don’t know the guilt of knowing that their death is on you any way you slice it. _

But he didn't say any of it out loud. Knowing, despite his own grief, that he couldn’t add any more to Steve’s pain at losing his friend. The only person he seemed to love more than anyone else in this century or any other. The thought flared up an old type of grief in tony, but it was easy to shake off. He’d been doing it for years, now, it was old hat for him. 

“I’m sorry, Tony,” the stubborn captain said.  _ I’m sorry, Tony, but he's my friend.  _ Almost the same but not quite. Tony shook his head and walked away. It was too late, now, for all of that. Too many armors and sleepless nights burned for the words to do any good. Too much scotch and whiskey and anything else he could think of to numb the pain. 

“So am I,” Tony said almost inaudible before he left the room. He knew the other man heard, however. They had done this song and dance before, too. 

  
  


So that’s how they found themselves here. Rogers, Rhodey, Okoye and Tony standing in a field some ways away from the palace. Shuri had come crashing through breakfast, finding them all together for the first time in a long while, to tell them that something was entering the atmosphere. Steve met his gaze for half a second before they were both sprinting down to the respective rooms where their armors were; Tony throwing a quick word to lock down the palace behind his back. For some reason, as they had been doing quite a lot lately and he refused to think about, the others listened. 

Rhodes had been right at his heels, refusing as he had since the Snap, to be much too far away from his brother. Natasha and Clint, who’d turned up a month or so ago with his whole family in tow,  _ thank God _ , had taken care to stay behind. Bruce, in the hulkbuster armor, and Shuri and Mother Ramonda taking care of their people; the Raccoon and Nebula twitching to leave but understanding that every bit of help would be necessary if their first line of defense failed. Tony and the others were the wall, as it were. 

It was not, as they had expected, a spaceship. Or an army, or another self proclaimed savior. It was just a woman in some kind of armor. A golden star, similar to Cap’s old uniform, set in the middle of her chest. Red and blue covering the rest of her. Her blond hair billowing around her head as she squinted in the hot African sun. Tony, those same files running through his head, takes a step forward. Rogers shifts next to him, but he ignores him. The HUD in his faceplate lights up on the device in her hand. Communicator, SHIELD issued, single connection. Ancient tech… his  _ own _ tech from…

“Captain,” Tony says, his voice steady though he barely manages to keep the surprise in check. Because he  _ knows her _ and by the sound of hydraulics next to him, Rhodes recognizes her as well. Steve turns to look at him, Tony can see him in the HUD, and he rolls his eyes. He’d stopped being a captain long ago. “Captain Danvers?”

“Who are you?” She says, her voice carrying over the safety space he’s left between them. She clenches her fists, and the one with the communicator lights up with sparks that Tony has no intention of testing out. 

He takes a deep breath and commands the nanos to retreat. He’s wearing his usual clothes, and nothing more, but if his hunch is correct then he’s safe here. He knows why she’s come. Rhodey says something he can barely hear as the nanos retreat and Steve hisses out a quiet  _ Tony  _ next to him but he ignores them. 

“My name’s Tony Stark, I believe you have something of mine,” he gives her a cheeky grin. He’s playing a dangerous game, and he knows it, but he decides to trust Fury. For all times sake. He heaves a sigh of relief when the corner of her mouth ticks up in a smile. 

“Last time I check this was Fury’s,” she says just as cheekily. “SHIELD issued, according to him.”

“Hmm, I’m sure that’s what he said,” Tony rolls his eyes and approaches her. She watches the armor next to him wearily, and he understands. He hears the War Machine armor move, and then Rhodes’s voice carries over. 

“Carol,” there is something in the way he says her name that has Tony twitching but he doesn't turn. “It’s good to have see you.”

“James,” she says, the same tone in her voice as his. Tony is itching with curiosity but he doesn't let his body react. “It’s good to be back. Where are we, by the way? I… I’ve been gone a while.”

“Couple decades, by my count,” Rhodes says and now he’s standing besides Tony again. His fingers twitch, Tony can feel them, and he makes a note to ask about that once they get back to the palace. 

“I was—busy,” she says. She’s standing in front of them now and Tony can feel the tension between them. He hates to be the one to interrupt but something is nagging at him. That communicator, whoever had called her had a reason. And they need to know what it is. “And it would have been longer if it hadn't been for this,” she shows them the communicator, a frown marring her face. “Where’s your uncle? He’s the one that called me.” Carol directs this question at tony and it wakes him a beat to figure out who she means. 

“Uncle Fury’s gone,” Tony says and the words taste like ash in his mouth. It has been so long since he has called him that. Hasn’t had a reason to in a while. And to do so now… once he’s gone… it just… it adds to the pain he had already been carrying. “But if he managed to call you before—before, then that means he thought you could help.”

“ _ Uncle  _ Fury?” Steve’s voice breaks through from behind them. Tony had almost forgotten about him and Okoye. 

“Perhaps we could take this back to the palace?” Okoye chimes in, clearly being the more tactful of the two. “So that we may all catch up with each other?” She moves forward to approach them, her spear steady as always in her hand, and extends her arm to Carol who takes it and shakes it. “Welcome to Wakanda, Captain Danvers. I am Okoye, Commander of the Wakandan army.”

“Hi, thank you,” Carol says and though Tony doesnt know her he thinks she sounds between formal and flustered. He decides he likes her, right then and there. 

“All right then,” he says and motions for them to go ahead. “Let’s get to work.”


End file.
